Keeping around a warm and creative collection of handmade Cricut "Rainy Day" cards and projects is a great idea for many reasons. There are times when cold temperatures and bad weather can have a gloomy effect on a person's outlook on life. Make someone a warm and friendly card that's says you care. Give it to them on such a day. You never know when a card given out of the blue can help a person escape the blues. Thoughtful little trinkets and cards are often cherished more than the giver knows. I have a drawer and several boxes full of gifts such as these myself.

I love creating little "I forgot you not" projects with my Cricut. Create some keepsakes of your own this week. You can even get your family in on the act. It's so easy and the spectrum of ideas is limitless. Creating personalized keepsakes for others is such a nice way to say how much you love and appreciate them.

Happy Cricuting :-)

A: You can open your DesignStudio, click on Help, and then Check for Updates. It will take you to the update page.

This week has been a sad week for me. I lost a loved one; my grandma, passed away a week ago. Her funeral was beautiful and once it was over, all I wanted to do was create something with my Cricut. It's funny how when you're sad inside, creating something beautiful helps you to deal with the sadness. This week I explored the Fancy/Corner from the Storybook cartridge. As a reminder, the six creative features that come on this cartridge are: Tall/Border, Shorty/Holes, Fancy/Corner, Accent/Frame, Shadow, and Accent Blackout.

Here is another new style of font: the Fancy/Corner button gives you super storybook style of font. Now you can cut your letters curly (see pic) each letter has a little better flow of the lines and some more curls. This font definately looks girly and would look great on a scrapbook page or project. I can see these letters cut out of material using the iron on stitch-witchery, then glued to a lamp shade for a child's room. These letters would also look great to draw some attention to a title on a scrapbook page--I love this style. I can't wait to start scrapbooking my dog's pictures. I am almost done with my scrapbook room and then, look out world! My scrapbook days are going to become intense--he he.

This style is also in the numbers that you can cut from the cartridge and also in the images. The marquees have an extra curly curl to each corner and provide you with another way to draw attention to your pictures. The marquees will look great as pictures frames or for one big picture in the middle of your scrapbook page. They would also look great on cards, or even a special book to cheer someone up. The phrases that come with this cartridge are: "Once Upon a Time", "Happily Ever After", "A wish came true", "Thank-You", plus a few others. When this Fancy/Corner button is pressed even these phrase have extra curls and look more Storybook-ish. I am going to scrapbook my grandma's funeral, and I think I will use the phrase "Once Upon a Time" in the start of the pages--it will look so cute! As I was playing with cartridge I also thought that the phrase "Thank-You" would make some really cute cards. Place this phrase on one of the marquees, and you have an easy card to tell someone how much you appreciate them.

The other fun feature that you get with this button is the Corner feature. This feature is created when hold down the shift button. It takes all the images and turns them into an image that could be used in a corner (so obvious, I know). For example, the swirls now look different because they are two swirls blended together so that the image will look good in a corner. I love the flower, the leaves, and the butterflies, they all look so cute. These images can be used in scrapbook layouts, cards, and even home decor projects. I think they would look great in a personal journal, or even a notebook for school.

Speaking of school, I can't believe the summer has gone and school is starting up. Where did the time go? My friend Kendra created the cutest school layout using DesignStudio and I thought that you would all enjoy it. Attached is the cut file. She is amazing at what she can do with the DesignStudio.

Check out next week as I wrap up the Storybook exploration and see what I've created.

Crafty Kimber


SCHOOL MEMORIES
by Kendra Wiggins
ScrappinCricut.blogspot.com



Cut List for Layout and Supply List:
-Uni-ball Signo White Gel Pen (Pen Stitching Around the Letters & Mats)
-Sharpie Fine Pen in Black (Detail Pen Work On Ruler, Glue, Pencil and Scissors)
-Pentel Outline Marker in Silver (To Color The Blades Of The Scissors Metalic)
-Tombow Aqua Mono Adhesive Glue (This Just Happen To Be My Favorite! Use Tiny Dots!)
-12x12 Light Green (Base)
-12X12 Black (Layout)
-12x7 Green (Mats)
-2.5x3 Orange (Glue label and top)
-2.5x3 Blue (Scissors handles)
-2.5x4 Red (Ruler)
-2x3 Pink (Pencil Eraser)
-2x3 Black (Pencil lead)
-2x3 Light Brown (Pencil wood)
-2.5x4 Yellow (Pencil)
-2.5x3 White (Glue bottle)
-3.5x6 Gray/Silver (Pencil Eraser Holder)
-6x6 Green (Words: School Memories)

(screen shots of the cuts that will be performed)




Directions:



1. Using a 12x24 Cricut Mat, place the 12 x12 Black Cardstock & 12x7 Green Cardstock on the mat
2. Load Mat into Cricut Expression and press CUT.
3. Unload mat and remove cuts set aside.



4. Using a 12x24 Cricut Mat, place the pre-cut cardstock on your mat according to the above picture.
5. Load Mat into Cricut Expression and press CUT
6. Unload mat and carefully remove the cuts in groups. Example: The Glue bottle and lids pieces and the pencil and the pencil pieces, etc.... Set aside.

Glueing Instructions:
Glue Bottle:
7. Glue Orange label to white glue bottle.
8. Layer the lid and glue it to the white glue bottle.
9. Do any pen work that you desire and set aside.
Scissors:
10. Color the Scissor Blade pieces Silver with the Pentel Outline Marker.
11. With a pair of scissors, trim one arm of the Gray scissors blades away; pay attention to the score lines.
12. Glue this scissor arm over top of the unaltered scissor.
13. Glue the Blue scissor circles to the top of the gray scissors.
14. Do any pen work that you desire, insert a small bad into the scissor intersection and set aside.
Pencil:
15. Lay the Yellow Pencil base down and glue the Pink Eraser to the top.
16. Glue the silver Eraser holder just below the Pink Eraser.
17. Glue the Light Brown point to the tip of the Pencil.
18. Using a pair of scissors, trim the black pencil lead tip off of the point and glue to the finished pencil
19. Do any pen work that you desire and set aside.
Ruler:
20. Do any pen work that you desire and set aside.

Layout Glueing:
21. Using the Black Background, Glue the Words School Memories to the background. Be sure to center the word on the background.
22. Do any pen work that you desire and set aside. I used the Uni-ball Signo white gel pen.
23. Glue the Ruler down making sure center it on the background and to leave the sides that touch on the photo mats unglued.
24. Glue the Scissors down making sure center it on the background and to leave the sides that touch on the photo mats unglued.
25. Glue the Glue Bottle down making sure center it on the background.
26. Glue the Pencil down making sure center it on the background .
27. Glue the Photo Mats down being sure to center them. Make sure that the Scissors and Ruler are above the photo mat.
28. Add pictures of your precious little one and enjoy!

A: Make sure your Cricut is NOT connected to your computer and that no other programs are running (including programs running in the background, like anti-virus and firewalls) when you install the CDS.

Make sure you install the program onto a user account that has Administrator status. Installing the CDS onto a user account that does not have Admin functionality can cause the program to fail when loading. To see if your Vista user account (who you log in as) is Admin enabled, go to Start/Control Panel/User Accounts and Family Safety/Add or Remove User Accounts. Each user account listed will say if it's an Administrator, a Standard User, or a Guest.

To check your user account type in XP, click the Start button, then select Control Panel. Select User Accounts. The next window will display all user accounts set up on the machine. Under the name you log in to use DesignStudio it should read "Computer administrator".

To check your user account type in Vista, click the Start button and select Control Panel. In the search box at the top type "Change Account Type", and select it in the list below. The next screen will give you a list of users set up on the current machine along with their group. The group column for the user you select to run DesignStudio should read "Administrators".

To change your user account type in XP, go to Start/Control Panel/User Accounts/User Accounts, then select the user account you want to change, then select Change Your Account Type. Then select the Administrator (rather than Limited user) radio button and click on Change Account Type. Now when you go back to User Accounts, you'll see "Administrator" under your user account name.

To change your user account type in Vista, go to Start/Control Panel/User Accounts and Family Safety/User Accounts/Change Your Account Type. Then select Administrator (rather than Standard user) and click on Change Account Type. Now when you go back to Add or Remove User Accounts, you'll see "Administrator" under your user.